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EU runs its first-ever cyber war game exercise

90-minute exercise highlighted 'a number of strategic concerns'

European Union defence ministers have staged a cyber attack simulation in a bid to work out exactly how good - or otherwise - EU member states' cyber defences really are.

Perhaps surprisingly, it is the first time that such an exercise has been conducted on an EU-wide basis.

The simulation, though, lasted little more than 90 minutes, and Reutersreports that the exercise went reasonably well.

The UK opted out of the exercise.

"In the simulation, hackers sabotaged the EU's naval mission in the Mediterranean and launched a campaign on social media to discredit the EU operations and provoke protests," reported the news agency.

"Each of the defence ministers tried to contain the crisis over the course of the 90-minute, closed-door exercise in Tallinn that officials sought to make real by creating mock news videos giving updates on an escalating situation."

"Cyber, the fifth domain of warfare, must be given as much attention as land, air, sea and space," said Jorge Domecq, CEO of the European Defence Agency.

"There is no 100 per cent protection in cyber. It is imperative that EU Defence Ministers test their cyber defence mechanisms. The buy-in of Member States is key for the EU to have the necessary skills, technology and capabilities".

The European Defence Agency called the exercise EU CYBRID 2017 and described it as a tabletop event, like a board game we assume, except with computers and the aforementioned mock news reports.

"EU CYBRID 2017 is a table-top cyber exercise focused on strategic choices and considerations at the EU ministerial level. It is not expected that exercise participants address specific technical issues that arise during the exercise: this will be addressed later in associated exercises (e.g. EU PACE 2017).

"The goal of the exercise is to highlight a number of strategic concerns and topics that arise in connection with any hypothetical cyber crisis. This exercise should serve as a forum for discussion at ministerial level and provide strategic guidance to address future crises," it said